Mentors

Founder Entrepreneur:

Thomas J McCabe

Thomas J. McCabe, founder of McCabe & Associates in Columbia, Maryland, is internationally known for his development of software metrics and his leadership in software quality. As Founder, CEO, and Chairman of McCabe & Associates, Inc., Tom grew the company and three European subsidiaries to a critical mass of 175 people based on  his original research, and subsequently sold the company. He continued to remain closely tied to the company, however not in the day-to-day operations.  In 1999 he was appointed to lead the Washington DC chapter of the Chief Executive Officers (CEO) Club, a group consisting of founders and entrepreneurs.  Tom also actively speaks across the country on software development as well as on entrepreneurship.  

In 2009 Tom McCabe’s publication on software complexity was chosen as one of the retrospective 23 highest impact papers in computer science by the ACM-SIGSOFT. Tom was the 1998 recipient of the fourth international Stevens Award and presented the Stevens Lecture on Software Development Methods on March 10^th in Florence, Italy. He also testified before congress in the hearing entitled, “Year 2000: Biggest Problems and Proposed Solutions” in June of 1998.  CNN Headline News aired a segment featuring Tom McCabe where he was interviewed on the Year 2000 in 1998. 

Tom has recently given presentations to the faculty and student body at the University of California Polytechnic, the University of Connecticut, and the Citadel on entrepreneurship. He gave a talk in Beijing to the Chinese Space Agency in June 2009 on software reliability. In December 2009 he gave a presentation to Greek CEOs in Athens on entrepreneurship; during 2009 he made presentations on his ideas to various industry leaders like Qualcomm in San Diego.

Tom currently is on the boards of several US and European companies. He is leading a project to apply mathematical analysis to the DNA double helix. He has recently authored a paper which applies mathematical analysis to biological emergent intelligence which was published in August 2006.

Tom McCabe’s landmark research appears in “Design Complexity Measurement and Testing” which was published in 1989 in Communications of the ACM.  Other publications include “Software Complexity” with Arthur Watson, CrossTalk, 1994; “Combining Comprehension and Testing in Object-Oriented Development” with Arthur Watson, Object Magazine, 1994; “Testing an Object-Oriented Application” with Lori Dreyer, Albert Dunn, and Arthur Watson, The Journal of the Quality Assurance Institute, 1994; “An Engineering Approach of Software Maintenance” with Eldonna Williamson, CASE Outlook, 1992; Tips on Reengineering Redundant Software” with Eldonna Williamson, Datamation, 1992; and “Reverse Engineering, Reusability, Redundancy:  The Connection”, American Programmer, 1990.


Co-Founder Entrepreneur:

John Rice

John Rice founded and serves as CEO of Management Leadership for Tomorrow (MLT, www.ML4T.org), a national non-profit organization that equips under-represented minorities with the skills, career roadmap, coaching and door-opening relationships that are required to become high-impact leaders in corporations, entrepreneurial ventures and nonprofits. MLT serves 2000 students and professionals nationwide; is the #1 source of minorities at the nation’s top MBA programs; and places 95% of its undergraduates in top early career jobs at its blue-chip partner companies including Goldman Sachs, Google, PepsiCo, McKinsey, Target and the NFL. John has been featured on CNN, the cover of Fortune Magazine and in the Wall Street Journal, Businessweek, NPR, and other media outlets. 

Prior to MLT, Rice was an executive at the National Basketball Association, where he served as managing director of NBA Japan and as director of marketing for Latin America. Before joining the NBA, Rice spent four years with the Walt Disney Company in new business development and marketing. 

John is a co-founder and senior advisor of CareerCore – a technology company that provides outsourced career services and mentoring solutions for colleges and corporations. He serves on the Yale University Council, the Board of Visitors of Duke University’s Sanford School of Public Policy, and is a member of the Young Presidents’ Organization. Rice received his MBA from Harvard Business School, his BA with honors from Yale, and he lives in the Washington area with his wife and two children. 

Mentoring Entrepreneurs:
Vic Hess

Vic Hess’ career has spanned a very wide range of successful achievements. He has served in senior positions in all of executive management, marketing, sales, business development, and technical disciplines. These roles have been

implemented in a variety of business entities, all the way from the launch and growth of a number of entrepreneurial startups to the creation, development, and direction of the executive team in several midsize and Fortune 1000 companies.

Mr. Hess has consulted for major technology companies such as Intel, Fujitsu America, Cadence Design systems, COMDISCO and numerous small companies both on technology development and strategic market positioning.

Vic is the designer and developer of “Systematic Entrepreneurship” a nationally award winning program that is based upon the premise that businesses can be guided through a structured process toward a more successful, sustainable and profitable growth.

Mr. Hess is a Principal in the strategic management consulting firm Development Resources, LLC and a member of Genna Associates, LLC strategic management consultants. Additionally he is Entrepreneur-In-Residence at The Emerging Technology Center in Baltimore, Maryland, where his primary responsibilities are to help nurture and develop entrepreneurial technology companies both in the Center’s Incubator and in the surrounding technical community.

Mr. Hess is the author of numerous papers on high technology sales, marketing, business development and corporate management.  He was educated in physics at Frostburg State and studied engineering and computer sciences at George Washington University. He also attended the Drucker Graduate School of Management.

Mr. Hess is a member of the American Management Association, The American Marketing Association, board member of the Howard Community College technology Advisory Board. He was the founding Chairman of the Howard Tech Council.

Lin Delaney

Linda A. Delaney is a founding partner in Delaney McKinney, L.L.P. and a litigator who views the law and our courts as vehicles for the protection of our most vulnerable. Ms. Delaney has litigated and negotiated complex custody and financial matters in the context of divorce and separation for more than 15 years. She has singular expertise in the psychological issues that occur in many high conflict custody cases. She successfully represents parents and children in complex child custody and divorce cases in Maryland and the District of Columbia. Her outstanding performance, and unsurpassed devotion to her clients and their children, have been recognized by Washingtonian Magazine in its guide to the areas' top divorce lawyers. Consistent with her concern for children, Ms. Delaney also frequently serves as a guardian ad litem representing children in custody cases.

Ms. Delaney is also committed to exploring global public policy solutions to improve the lives of children and families. In 2004, Ms. Delaney and her partner, Meg McKinney, founded the non-profit public policy institute, Montauro Group. Through targeted research and writing, the organization seeks to inform and influence the economic and social policy debate around work, family, child well-being and other vital issues.

In May 2003, Ms. Delaney was invited to participate in a dialogue hosted by the Woodrow Wilson Center discussing the American Law Institute's Report, "Principles of the Law of Family Dissolution: Analysis and Recommendations." Ms. Delaney has been a catalyst locally for the increasing use of parent coordinators to assist parents in high conflict custody cases, as an alternative to custody litigation. She serves as an attorney advisor to the Psychology and Law Parent Coordinator Project, a joint project of the American Psychological Association, the Family Law Section of the D.C. Bar, and Argosy University, which provides free parent coordinators to low income families with custody cases pending in the Family Court of the District of Columbia Superior Court. Ms. Delaney also serves as a settlement facilitator for the D.C. Family Court.

Ms. Delaney was a panel member in the continuing legal education course, “Children Held Hostage” presented at the 2006 annual meeting of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers. She has served as a faculty member for continuing legal education courses sponsored by the Family Law Section of the D.C. Bar and has provided training for D.C. Family Court judges. In 2000, Ms. Delaney was elected to serve a two-year term on the Steering Committee for the Family Law Section of the D.C. Bar. She is a member of the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts, the D.C. Bar (Member, Family Law Section), the Montgomery County Bar Association (Member, Family Law Section), the Maryland State Bar Association, and the American Bar Association (Member, Family Law Section).

Ms. Delaney graduated with a B.A. from the State University of New York College at Buffalo in 1979 and received her J.D. from the Antioch School of Law in Washington, D.C. in 1983. She litigated complex civil rights and police misconduct cases before her practice shifted to family law and, in particular, child custody, where she thought she might make a difference in people's lives and sometimes in the law.

Publications by Linda Delaney: “No Approximate Parents: States Should Reject ALI's Proposed Standard for Child Custody Disputes,” Legal Times , Vol. XXVIII, No. 9, February 28, 2005.

Glenn Falcao

Glenn is currently President of Falcao Investment Group, an investment firm he founded in 2001. Before that, Glenn was a partner with Bessemer Venture Partners in their Boston office. Prior to joining Bessemer, he was the Executive Vice President of Corvis Corporation; an optical networking 

company that he helped take public in one of the most successful IPOs in 1999. Prior to joining Corvis Glenn held various executive management positions at Nortel Networks, where he was instrumental in the launch of their Optical Networking business, and subsequently as President of their Internet Access business helped reposition the company to take advantage of the growth of the Internet. He has been involved in the Communications industry for over 20 years and is an active member on a number of boards.   


Greg Carr

With more than 25 years of experience, Managing Partner Greg Carr practices the full spectrum of Intellectual Property law, including domestic and foreign matters and proceedings before federal courts throughout the U.S., the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board, and the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences. This frequently involves building portfolios of various Intellectual Property assets, designing alternative processes and devices to avoid infringement, as well as expanding market share through licensing (and other collaborative relationships) and, if necessary, litigation to enforce Intellectual Property rights or challenge infringement claims. Mr. Carr is registered to practice before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and in Texas courts. He is admitted to practice before the United States District Courts for the Northern and Southern Districts of Texas. Mr. Carr is additionally admitted before the United States Court of Federal Claims and the United States Court of Appeals, Fifth and Federal Circuits. He frequently serves as an industry expert in speaking engagements and publications and has authored articles for Texas Lawyer, The National Law Journal, and Dallas-Fort Worth TechBiz. Mr. Carr is a member of various professional associations, including: the Dallas Bar Association (Patent, Trademark and Copyright Law Section); the American Bar Association (Chair, Subcommittee Reporting on Intellectual Property Protection in Latin America, 1994-1995); the State Bar of Texas (Intellectual Property Section); the Dallas-Fort Worth Intellectual Property Law Association; and the American Intellectual Property Law Association (Co-chair, Subcommittee on Exxon-Florio Act, 1990-1991). For the State Bar of Texas, he actively serves on the Planning Committee for a CLE Seminar on "High-Tech Litigation." With a strong commitment to his community, Mr. Carr formerly co-chaired the law student committee of the Dallas Association of Young Lawyers, which received the American Bar Association Award for Outstanding Contribution to Legal Profession in 1988. He has also been an adjunct professor of law and economics at Southern Methodist University, currently serves on the Board of Advisors for its Mechanical Engineering Department and is the Founding Sponsor of the university-wide Innovation Competition at SMU. A graduate of Leadership Dallas, Mr. Carr has served on the organization's Alumni Association Board of Directors and spearheaded building a pavilion and recreation area for the Bon Ton neighborhood, located near the Trinity River Corridor in southeastern Dallas. Mr. Carr earned a Juris Doctorate from the University of Houston in 1982. He received a bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering from Southern Methodist University in 1979, graduating cum laude. Ronald Gots M.D., Ph.D. Dr. Gots obtained  an AB degree in chemistry and an MD degree from the University of Pennsylvania and a Ph.D. in pharmacology from the University of Southern California. Since 1973 he had started and run a variety of businesses in medical and scientific consulting. One of those, Medical Claims Review Services, was a medical utilization review company which applied proprietary software to evaluate the legitimacy of health care claims. It obtained venture capital and was later sold to a large international company. His other companies, National Medical Advisory Service, The International Center for Toxicology and Medicine and Building Health Science provide services to the public and private sectors. Dr. Gots has been a consultant to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and has been an active member of the business groups TEC and the CEO clubs. He has developed a solid understanding of the hurdles and needs of new businesses and, particularly, of those providing health-related consultative services. He is the author of 13 books and book chapters including several for lay audiences.